


The Marks of You

by Cottage_Crow, RottingMoss



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Armin Arlert Needs a Hug, Bully Reiner Braun, Bullying, Canon-Typical Violence, Drinking Games, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Panic, Hurt/Comfort, Internalized Homophobia, Jock Reiner Braun, M/M, Poor Life Choices, Reiner Braun Needs a Hug, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29424402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cottage_Crow/pseuds/Cottage_Crow, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RottingMoss/pseuds/RottingMoss
Summary: In this universe, soulmate markings line the bodies of every human. They are patterns or symbols of something that brought you together in a past life.Each is unique and different, and each is grey until you meet and connect with your soulmate.Bertholdt has always hated his marks. So when he finally gets out of his homophobic hometown only to be followed by his highschool bully...things will take an interesting turn; and it's all thanks to a conniving blonde.
Relationships: Levi Ackerman/Erwin Smith, Reiner Braun/Bertolt Hoover
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	1. -New Semester-

This was it. This was the bitter end. Bertholdt was outplayed. He awoke to see a titan approaching him. He snapped out of his daze and started to panic. WIth his gone he was merely a sitting duck. He screamed out to his owls comrades, his friends… Annie...and Reiner. His cries fell on deaf ears. Bertholdt knew this was karma. He knew that this was what he deserved for his crimes. And yet he still had a will and desire to live. He still wanted to return home...see his father..and live off the few years he had left in the countryside. 

He could feel the humid mouth of the titan as the beast roared its fangs, and teeth clamped down onto him. Pain spread through his body as the pressure built and built, his head was pounding...and then finally, release.. 

_ Beep _

_ Beep _

_ Beep _

………

Bertholdt awoke sideways on his bed, his head directly by his infernal alarm clock he had tried and failed to break many times in the morning. Sheets were tangled around his legs and torso. A thin layer of sweat laid on his skin, as per usual. 

He scrunched his eyes and nose and sat up. Light poured through his window 

Beep

Beep..

Oh right that was still going. He shut it off and brushed short brown bangs out of his face. With great reluctance he pulled the sheets and blanket off of himself and pulled his legs over onto the floor. The bed was old,and short and sunken in, so his comically long legs hit the floor with ease. Bertholdt prepared for the day.

Mondays were the days he ended up getting the most lectures. Why he decided this at the beginning of the year he didn’t know...something about getting the most out of the way but all it did was give him stress. 

He glanced over at the tank on his desk that harbored his pet turtle. An eastern box turtle his father gave him as a gift for his 18th birthday. He figured he might as well give Tort a good morning and give him some lettuce. 

Reaching into his mini fridge, he pulled out a wrapped head of lettuce and tore off a few pieces before plopping them down in Tort’s water bowl. He switched the heat lamp on before proceeding to get dressed. 

White button, light sweater, and light jeans and a facial mask. Everyone had soulmate markings, Bertholdt knew that well, but he couldn’t help but still find his ugly. He never managed to figure out what they were either. 

He had sparse ideas, many connected to his weird dreams that always seemed to follow the same timeline, but he never investigated.

His were weird on strange portions of his face. His chin, below his eyes and below his cheek bones. They were light grey. He had never met his soulmate, leaving them on a permanent grey scale.

Kids would tease him when he was young for looking like a skeleton, he even heard his parents say they were ugly. Even in highschool he still heard people object to being friends with him, saying they were unattractive. Being in catholic school certainly didn’t help either. 

His self esteem plummeted for most of his school life, so he opted to not show them. He could easily pass it off as an aversion to germs, and people respected that. Especially in college, no one really cared. He still often wished he had a pretty soul mark, not something like the weird lines. He knew people who had beautiful ocean waves, or wings. He had weird streaks...

Bertholdt checked his phone quickly, he still had 15 minutes before he needed to leave. He organized any and all papers he had left to put away and made sure he had everything. His laptop had charged overnight so he shouldn’t have to worry. His phone was charged, and he had a portable charger anyways...everything should go smoothly..right?

15 minutes past quickly with Bertholdt messing around on his phone for a while. He pulled shoes on and grabbed his keys. He gave one last pat to the shell of Tort before leaving, locking the door behind him. 

Bertholdt had opted to simply rent his own apartment, not live in a dorm. It ended up being cheaper, seeing as the landlords were a nice married gay couple who actaully cared for their tenants. More than once they let Bertholdt pay his rent whenever he could and not worry about due dates.

He also knew that they did care about their tenets. More than once Bertholdt saw the blonde one fixing things for the kind old ladies that lived next to him. He had heard the shorter one yelling at some highschoolers for being far too loud one night, Bertholdt liked to think the man had psychic powers and knew it was finals season and that he was studying. 

Whatever the case was, Bertholdt was happy with his living conditions. He managed to scrape together money for relatively healthy groceries. There were stores on campus he could go to. 

Bertholdt headed down the stairs, school bag in hand as he passed a young couple and their kid, Gabi. She was sweet enough, occasionally bringing him cookies she baked. Soon enough he was on his way to campus. 

The commute was only a few blocks long. He passed a coffee shop, small businesses and various vendors. He entered the campus and passed by various students in groups milling about. Being slightly taller than average gave him an advantage to see above most people’s heads at the campus. 

He had marine biology first, a class he was taking simply for the credit of it. He did enjoy it in theory. He found a friend that was taking it. It was a good class to have just in case. For now he had no intention of going into a science field, he was more interested in Architecture. 

Stepping into the lecture hall, he was greeted with the loud chatter of students. He was a junior, he thought he had some sense of seniority, but he was still anxious when walking into a new class. 

He met the teacher a few days prior to the start of the new semester. He peered over the heads of various other students and found the shorter blonde sitting near the front row. 

Armin Arlert was also a junior, who Bertholdt met over the summer at some extra classes. The blonde didn’t need them, he was already smart enough, he just wanted something to. 

Having no other friends in that class, he opted to sit beside Armin. He was incredibly intelligent, having his as a buddy and seatmate would come in handy. Bertholdt wasn’t one to slack off and cheat...but Armin was a walking encyclopedia. He’d be great to study with. 

The taller man weaved his way through a small group of students congregating in the front. The professor had yet to show up which gave them some time. Armin’s head flipped up once he heard the footsteps and saw Bertholdt. 

He waved and pulled out the seat for the taller one. 

“I’m glad to see you’re here. I was not looking forward to being alone all semester.” Armin was relieved. He shut the book he was looking at, the textbook, and set it aside. 

Bertholdt gladly sat down and set his bag near the leg of the double desk. This year Bertholdt actually came prepared and bought school supplies instead of winging it everyday. He knew eventually he’d return to simply praying for a pencil instead of packing one. 

“How was your summer?” Armin began, pulling a sweater taut around his shoulders. 

“It was alright. I remodeled a bit of my apartment. Got my essays done at the beginning so I had time to relax. What about you?” Bertholdt wasn’t one for small talk, but he and Armin got along well. 

“I went home to see my family for awhile. It was nice to see my grandpa.” Armin spoke about his grandpa often from what Bertholdt remembered from summer classes. Bertholdt never asked what happened to his parents, he didn’t want to bring up any sensitive topics. 

“That’s good.” Bertholdt and Armin remained in a content silence until the professor, a man named Zackley, stepped in and class began. 

They went over the syllabus first, which Armin had already read. Bertholdt was anticipating this to be a fairly difficult class, and from what the professor said, it would be.

They had short quizzes every other week on the base subjects they did, tests would be at the end of every month, essays would be more rare, the professor didn’t find them practical for subjects such as marine biology. 

Armin pulled out a notebook and scratched down a few notes. For now Bertholdt just listened. 

The hour went by quickly, with Zackley going over the basics of what they’d be learning and going over throughout the semester. 

“What class do you have next?” Armin asked, putting his books away.

Bertholdt paused for a moment before replying with his allotted math class. He pushed his mask up higher on his face, feeling it slip down as he bent over to grab his back. 

“Isn’t it hot outside for that mask?” Armin knew a bit about why Bertholdt chose to wear it, but he had never seen the markings in full. He was sure they couldn’t be that bad.

Bertholdt shrugged, he suffered through the heat of the summer for the sake of not being incredibly self consciousness. Armin never pried, he was kind about it, which was in part why Bertholdt was generally drawn to him that and he was also incredibly gay. 

Being out openly in college was generally easier than it was in highschool. Bertholdt wasn’t ‘out’ persay, but Armin was. Bertholdt had heard about his arguments in speech and debate course for queer rights. Armin might have been small, but the guy was strong willed and opinionated. 

Armin was also kind, and he generally was nice to be around. Bertholdt hoped they’d make good friends. They headed down to the exit of the lecture hall. Armin went up to about Bertholdt’s mid bicep. 

“I’ve got Anthropology next. It’s on the East end of campus. I’ll see you later!” Armin turned right, waving before disappearing into the crowd. Bertholdt would have to get his number later. 

Bert turned left, heading to the math hall. He passed a few familiar faces on his way. He hadn’t seen many of his friends from past years over the summer, they were all fairly busy. 

He passed Pieck and Colt, the animal studies couple from his hometown, He saw Annie, one his biggest crushes from middle school years before he came out. As far as he knew she now studies business. He only occasionally talked to her. 

He was moved by various frat boys he had seen in passing, and other groups of freshmen girls. The math lecture hall wasn’t far away, thankfully. The halls were filled with a conglomerate of noise. Everyone was talking in between classes and in the hallways. He heard bits and pieces of conversation as he scanned the hall walls for his classes number.

Bertholdt enjoyed math, it was a necessary class for his major. He stepped inside and found most people hadn’t arrived yet. He got himself a seat in the middle and set his things down. With any luck he’d be left alone for the time being. No one around him seemed very interesting.

He busied himself by taking out a notebook and pencil, when he heard the loud voices of two familiar voices. He looked up and saw two men from his hometown, two men he hadn’t spoken to since highschool...oh boy. 

Reiner Braun and Porco Galliard were the inseparable sports boys of Liberio. They went to the same middle school and high school as Bertholdt, and had apparently followed him all the way to Paradis College. Wonderful. They were nothing short of asshole bullies. 

Despite his height, Bertholdt was not exempt from their teasing. Because their town was generally more conservative, Bertholdt had no one to go to to complain or let the teachers know he just got bullied and shoved into lockers for looking like a ‘sissy’. 

Bertholdt watched as they laughed and spoke, only to be shushed by the professor as he walked in. That didn’t seem to dampen their spirit.

Bertholdt’s eyes went down and he focused on his very interesting blank piece of paper as the two walked closer to his seat. There was an extra spot beside him.

_ “Please dear god don’t have one of them sit here…” _

Whatever kind god existed did not listen, as the taller of the blondes sat down right beside him. Reiner…

Porco sat behind him. 

Bertholdt had no idea if Reiner recognized him or not. Bert imagined he hadn’t changed much since highschool? Maybe he got a bit taller? Clearer skin? 

Reiner didn’t seem to have changed much either. He got more muscular, a bit longer, shaggier hair and facial hair. Reiner had markings on his cheeks, streaks that ran down to his cheek bones. 

When Bertholdt first met him, he wondered if they had any connection to one another...but after being called a slur one too many times by the blonde, he just figured it wasn’t worth it. 

Reiner probably had some cute petite girl for a soulmate. Some cheerleaders. They’d make a great couple…

Bertholdt had no idea if Porco had a soulmate or not. He dated a lot of girls in highschool, and quite frankly Bertholdt didn’t care. 

“Hey, Hoover, didn’t know you went here.” Reiner spoke up. Bertholdt paused. He was literally in junior year. Had Reiner not seen him before this? They’d definitely been in the same classes before. 

“I have been for awhile.” Bertholdt said stiffly. He wasn’t here for small talk. They had progressed way past this. Bertholdt didn’t want to be having this conversation right now. 

College was meant to be his escape form his small, homophobic, hometown, he really did not need his highschool bully here…

“I just want to finish this class.” Bertholdt might be a gentle giant, but he was not adverse to being snappy and blunt with his opinions. 

Bertholdt shoved his mask up the bridge of his nose. His eyes were downcast at the notebook in front of him. Reiner seemed to get the memo that Bertholdt really didn’t want to speak. 

The teacher stepped inside not long after and announced the subject for this class. They were given the proper syllabus and introduced to what this class would be about. The class began with a basic introduction to the math they’d be learning, which was largely trigonometry. 

This seemed to be turning out alright. Bertholdt was confident in his math abilities, and saw himself succeeding in this class. The teacher ended class with one last message. 

“I hope you all like your seat partners because you’ll be stuck with them for a while. I don’t like you guys moving around everyday.”

Both Bertholdt and Reiner looked over at the other. 

Well…

Fuck


	2. -Memories of You-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bertholdt panics after finally meeting Reiner again, and the blonde remembers his childhood in his small, religious town. Old memories of a past life resurface in Bertholdt's dreams. How will the boys fare from here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CottageCrow and I have a lot of ideas for this and we're super proud of it! Thanks for clicking.

Bertholdt was not happy about being with Reiner for the rest of the semester, at least. Being constantly reminded of his hometown and bullies was not what he wanted from this year. Maybe Reiner had changed? Perhaps? Please..?

  
  


Bertholdt and Reiner were adults..they could handle these situations. Bertholdt definitely wasn’t still anxious and terrified of confrontation. Nope. Definitely not. 

Maybe Armin would have some advice. The moment the class ended, Bertholdt picked up his bag and packed up. He paid no mind to the blonde beside him as he stood and turned to speak with Porco. 

The taller male disappeared into the crowd and left the lecture hall. He was not going to let his hometown bull ruin this year of college. Things were going to be different. If Reiner decided to still be horrible, Bertholdt would ignore him, or they would solve it like adults. 

Reiner had turned to Porco after class ended. 

“Did you know he went here?” 

Porco shrugged. He hadn’t. He had always been a part of the bullying, even egged Reiner on several times. As an adult, he didn’t really give it much concern, he didn’t care. That was what everyone did if you were weird, and Bertholdt was.

The two left together. They had been friends ever since elementary, and remained so as they got into college together and made the football team.

The college was one of the best teams in the state, they were a fan favorite for various competitions, and Porco took it very seriously. 

The two split to go to opposite classes.

By the end of the day, after Reiner had spent hours working out and straining himself, he was able to return to the dorm. It was quiet as the sun set, and he was alone with his thoughts. His mind wandered back to the taller brunet he finally met again today. 

Reiner might not have been the brightest, but he wasn’t oblivious. He had seen the markings on Bertholdt’s face when they were middle schoolers, and he knew what that meant. His church spoke of them often, it was clear that soulmate marks were for man and woman. 

Anything else was a tool of the devil, a sign from him meant to lead others astray. He couldn’t count how many times he heard his parents talking to eachother after hearing news of gay marriage being legalized, or certain TV shows portraying queer couples as fine. 

He remembers very vividly, his father demanded he never ever disgrace his family by getting involved with men. 

Reiner remembered sitting in class, in his catholic school, hearing how serious it was if one of them was found to be gay. Not only would they go to hell, it was certain they’d get diseases, they’d die, they’d overdose…

Reiner knew he couldn’t let himself be friends with Bertholdt. They were both in the same class for a while, and that’s how the bullying began. 

He never told his parents that he found someone with matching soulmate marks. Even if he told them that he hated the boy or that he had no desire to get to know him, they would still be furious. 

Reiner had spent a good amount of his Freshman year in college trying to forget what a piece of shit he was, he wanted this as a fresh start if he could...he wasn’t around Bertholdt, he was around hot cheerleaders and football, and other manly guys his age.

He was content being a straight, normal man, living a normal college life. With any luck he could avoid speaking to Bertholdt for his entire math class this semester.

The blonde finally reached his shower and got in. The hot water would clear his head. He pulled his jersey and pants off and caught sight of his reflection.

The pale grey lines that streaked down his face were still as prominent as ever. He never cared to hide them, or figure out how they ended up there. It was a popular theory that everyone had dreams or old memories of their markings and past life, but it didn’t occur in everyone. 

Reiner was never sure if his dreams were past life memories or an overactive imagination, his dreams were always so weird…

Better to not investigate, was what he had decided. It didn’t matter, besides soulmark ‘science’ and research was still virtually new. The concept of past lives had long been vaguely understood, but indepth research had only begun centuries ago. 

Even in some parts of the country, like the places he grew up in, trying to understand your past life was a taboo of sorts. It was best to focus on this life and dedicate it to God. 

Not to say that people still weren’t curious…

The hot shower was helpful to clear his head. Who was he to care about something like this? Why was seeing Bertholdt again any different this time? It’s not like they’d grow to be friends. Bertholdt probably hated him anyways. 

Reiner would be fiiiiiiine. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Armin pick up this is important,” Bertholdt had just left campus for the night and the first thing he needed to do was vent, and he knew the blonde would listen. 

The monotone buzzing of the phone went on for a little while longer until it was picked up. 

“Bertholdt? Did you need something” 

“You remember how I told you I was bullied as a kid? A lot?”

“Yeah that one time we both vented at 2am?” 

“Well one of the guys from my hometown is in my math class, and he sits right next to me.”

“Which one?”

“Reiner,”

“Oh the football player?”

“I- yeah, sure. How do you know that?”

“Eren knows him. They aren’t on great terms so I get to hear about it. Constantly” 

“Oh..well yeah. Regardless, I’m not going to deal with him for the rest of the year.” 

“Well..can you move seats?”

“No..apparently we’re doing a lot of partner based problems this year, so he wants us to stay where we are”

“Has he tried to say anything rude to you?” 

“Not yet.”

“So maybe it won’t be that bad. It’s best to just ignore him for now right?”

Talking to Armin did manage to calm him down. He was always logical and seemed to be level headed, maybe he was right…

Bertholdt got back to his apartment and hung up with the blonde. He gave a small wave to the short ravenette man behind the desk. Mr. Ackerman didn’t spare him a second glance but he didn’t mind. 

A wave of comfort washed over him as he arrived in his own apartment. He pulled his face mask down, revealing the dull gray lines tracing down his cheekbones and under his eyes. 

He tossed his bag on his bed and flopped down. He turned his head on his pillow to see Tort munching away at his food, content under his little heat lamp. 

Sometimes Bertholdt wished he was a turtle. He could hide away from the world whenever he wanted, live under a nice hot lamp...eat lettuce all day.

Yeah that would be the life. But instead he was reincarnated as a human with human problems. Bertholdt had relaxed a little bit more about this whole situation since talking to Armin, but that didn’t mean he was worry free. 

After a moment of watching his turtle eat contently in his little enclosure, he sat up. Perhaps working on homework would distract him from the looming memories of his childhood that stuck around like a cloud above him.

The time passed quickly as he finished question after question, his eyes drooping more the more numerical symbols he wrote out. At some point he no longer could compute what his hands wrote down and he knew he needed to sleep.

The thought of moving over to his bed briefly passed through his mind, but it didn’t last long. 

He was out like a light in no time. 

_ Sun poured through his windows. Past the linen curtains and on to the cot’s they all slept on. Bertholdt heard birds chirping beside the one big window. His eyes scrunched as he struggled to stay asleep, not wanting to face the day.  _

_ A fear in the pit of his stomach refused to go away...today was the day they would finally transform. Warrior candidates had been chosen weeks prior, and they’d spent the last few preparing more and more to receive serum. Bertold threw the blanket over his head, hoping to escape the sun and reality that awaited him. Commander Magath walked in the cadets room.  _

_ "Alright everyone, today's the day," His voice was much less stern than it used to be. Magath tried to sound a bit upbeat even, but it was only to hide the feeling of dread. _

_ Magath knew that he was a pawn in the Marleyans game, but the idea of him helping to sacrifice these children weighed on his shoulders. He knew he was responsible for killing these kids in thirteen years. He knew that they would be put through hell. He knew that it was his fault.  _

_ Once the candidates were ready they lined up in the hallway. Magath then gave them the rundown of the day, _

_ "You will be given the titan serum in a confidential area. If you ever even mention this area you will be replaced with Porco here." Porco jumped into attention and clenched his fists in rage. This confirmed that Porco would be the spare.  _

_ Magath continued, "Now I will be telling everyone their titan assignment." He went on about the assignments until he got to Bertold and Reiner, _

_ "Reiner, you will get the armored and Bertholdt, you will get the colossal. Congratulations to all of you, you are dismissed until 3:00 pm where you will meet in front of the building." Bertholdt shook from the amount of power and responsibility put onto his shoulders.  _

_ Reiner seemed like the clear choice to Bertholdt, but he had heard the rumors and talk of who should have really gotten it… _

_ They still had plenty of time until they needed to leave. Bertholdt was admittedly scared. He had spent so much time training to become a Colossal titan, he had spoken with the soon to be previous owner, he had worked so hard for this just to help his father…. _

_ He had to make them proud. He had to help his father. The weight of the free Marleyan world rested on his shoulders.  _

_ The time seemed to pass far too quickly. The whole day seemed like a daze, he barely remembered eating, and talking with the warriors.  _

_ As 3am approached, the high sun had almost passed, a bell rang out through the courtyard, signalling the beginning of the ceremony. Bertholdt and the other candidates could hear a crowd. The military had come to watch.  _

_ Bertholdt followed the other warriors to a makeshift podium. He imagined they’d all be moved to an open field later. They were all announced, and a crowd of Marleyan military officials clapped…  _

_ They were being applauded by Marleyan government officials. _

_ He saw the warriors beside him looking forward, straight out at the crowd with no emotion showing in their faces.  _

_ They were all taken to an empty field, an old training field that could be destroyed and broken up for the sake of all of their transformations.Various blockades were built for the military officials. Bertholdt saw the other shifters, saw them taking their red arm bands off and handing them to Magath.  _

_ They had accepted their fate a long time ago. Bertholdt saw the syringe cases safely held in the hands of military officials. He was to be first. His transformation would cause the most destruction, therefore they needed to get it out of the way.  _

_ His brow was creased with sweat, he looked back to his fellow cadets. Reiner’s eyes were filled with pride. He had worked for this just as much as the rest of them.  _

_ “Are you excited?” Reiner turned to him. Bertholdt paused, his voice caught in his throat.  _

_ “We finally get to prove we’re worthy!” Reiner had always been wanting to prove himself. They all did, of course, but Reiner certainly vocalized it the most.  _

_ Bertholdt’s memories after that were so dazed afterwards. He remembered shooting pain surging through his body as the needle was injected into his arm, he remembered towering over the land as military officials looked up at his titan form in awe. He remembered looking down and seeing his friends. _

_ Wonder filled Reiner’s eyes as he saw the Colossus standing above them. Bertholdt remembers being pulled from the titan, hot, rubbery titan skin stuck onto his.  _

_ His cheeks and face burned as Magath pulled him out, tearing the titan flesh in the process. Steam erupted as his body was pulled from it. The titan itself gave off so much when he was finally separated from it. Bertholdt was in and out of consciousness as he was brought back to the blockade so that the other candidates could transform.  _

_ He remembers waking up as the ground shook violently. His eyes opened, and he saw, through the blast proof glass, the ever-recognizable muscles of the Armored titan. Reiner was not as agile as he could have been, but the armored titan was heavy, and not as easy to move for the first time. He felt the ground continue to rumble as the armored titan moved. _

_ He could only imagine the smile on Reiner’s face as he showed the military he was a capable armored titan, and the excitement he was feeling as he moved in the titans body.  _

_ He was given water by Magath as he saw Annie leave the blockade, preparing to get the serum. Reiner was cut out of the armored titan.  _

_ Bertholdt remembers waking up to see the blonde on a cot beside him, struggling to stay awake, clearly trying to see his friends transform.  _

_ Magath was trying to force him to rest. The body was always tired and dehydrated after the first few transformations until they got used to them.  _

_ Bertholdt smiled slightly before fading back into sleep.  _

Bertholdt’s body suddenly jerked back up right, sitting up straight as his eyes adjusted to the darkness around him. He felt a pencil stuck to his wrist and looked down to see he had fallen asleep at his desk. He groaned quietly and rubbed his eyes. He straightened his back and heard a few pops. 

His head was heavy as he stood up. 

“What the hell was that dream…” more often than not, his memories of his dreams were even scarcer than the ones the dream was based on. He remembered feeling taller, larger than the biggest skyscrapers, he remembered looking down to see a young blonde boy….somehow he knew who that was. 

He stood, pushing himself up from the chair. He needed to get comfortable and sleep. He was almost done with his work anyways. His head was pounding as he raised himself up. It seemed these dreams were popping up even more. 

Before now, he hadn’t had these dreams this often for at least a year. What caused them to suddenly show up… he wasn’t sure. He had a few theories but none were worth investigating at 2 in the morning. 

Bertholdt pulled his clothes off, sweat sticking to his body. He could deal with it later. He pulled a hoodie on, one he had left in the hamper earlier.

As he laid back down in his bed, he found he couldn’t fall immediately back to sleep as he had hoped. 

His mind kept going back to the boy he had seen in his dream. Golden honey eyes staring up in awe at him, clearly showing his excitement. He didn’t feel confused...at the sight of this child appearing. If anything he felt...comforted.

He felt familiar. Bertholdt could tell that whoever this kid was...he had been a friend. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please considering leaving a comment as it really does boost motivation!!

**Author's Note:**

> This was co-authored by my irl friend --> Cottage_Crow. Go give 'em love! They write fics too!


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